About Jay Evensen

Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist for the Deseret News. He has 32 years of journalism experience covering politics and a variety of other assignments at news organizations ranging from United Press International in New York City to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Deseret News, where he has worked since 1986. During that time, he has won numerous local, regional and national awards. Most recently, he was given the Cameron Duncan Media Award, given annually in Washington, D.C., by the advocacy group RESULTS, to the journalist judged to have done the most to further the cause of the world's poorest people.

People in the wealthiest places in America leave the chintziest tips, while people in modest places leave the most. Time Magazine just published the results of a study from the payment company Square, which examined credit and debit card transactions … Continue reading»

Americans along the path of the last total eclipse to cross the nation, in 1918, were just as excited about it as Americans are today for the eclipse coming Aug. 21. That is, except for one sobering fact — a world war was raging at the same time. Continue reading»

In 1987, the New York Times editorial board, of all people, said the best minimum wage would be $0. “The idea of using a minimum wage to overcome poverty is old, honorable – and fundamentally flawed,” it said. “It’s time … Continue reading»

If you live in Utah, you are less stressed than you would be in 46 other states. Your mileage may vary, of course, depending on how many assignments you may have with a volunteer organization, such as a church, or … Continue reading»

Take a close look at Puerto Rico. Is this the future of the United States? The island commonwealth, a U.S. territory, is bankrupt. It has borrowed and borrowed to pay its debts until it can’t borrow any more. Now, … Continue reading»

Give credit where it is due. President Trump raised eyebrows this week when he said the Australians have better health care than the United States. He followed that up with this tweet: Of course the Australians have better healthcare than … Continue reading»

Move over Sun City. A better retirement community is Provo, or maybe Saratoga Springs, or perhaps St. George. I’m betting on Southern Utah. It’s hard to tell, because the folks at bankrate.com didn’t go into that kind of detail. But … Continue reading»

People in Salt Lake City must not be as happy as those in the rest of Utah. That’s the only logical conclusion to draw from the latest city-by-city happiness report from wallethub.com. A team of researchers there looked at “the … Continue reading»

Listening to Gov. Gary Herbert’s annual state of the state speech Wednesday night, I couldn’t help speculating as to how differently it might have sounded if Hillary Clinton had won the White House. You might have heard more about the need … Continue reading»

Welcome to my perspectives on the news

Jay Evensen is the Associate Editor of the Deseret News editorial page. He has 30 years of journalism experience covering politics and a variety of other assignments at news organizations ranging from United Press International in New York City to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Deseret News.